From 1066 on, England's monarchs have inherited the caste structure instituted by the Thief of Normandy. Full marks to Malcolm Turnbull for humiliating them over the Spycatcher case and leading the opening push to get them out of our Constitution. Having said that, isn't it a little ironical for the site of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, of all places, to be named Parkes Place - not that Parkes bears any responsibility for the invasion that preceded his birth? A name symbolising the first inhabitants might be more appropriate for that part of the street.

What is so surprising about two States being named after British Royals? Five US States are still named after them, and that is after 232 years of independence. (They are Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and New York).

All this niggling by the republican remnant is futile until they address the central bastion of Royalty, the fact that under Section 64 of the Federal Constitution, The Prime Minister holds office during the pleasure of Her Majesty's representative. The status of politicians in Australia is currently so low that even the Age, (hardly a right wing publication) describes it as "subterranean". Until the political elite recapture the respect of the people the monarchy can be assured of a permanent place in the Australian political establishment.

I agree with the idea that they should not change the name of Parkes to Queen Elizabeth.

The strange thing about this reverence for the Royal Family is that they are the direct descendants of conquerors and warlords who proclaimed themselves Kings of England. This sits in direct contrast to the British and American's being hell bent on taking today’s Warlords to the International War crimes courts, whilst in their very midst they reviere the royal family who still lives off the spoils of treasures and lands taken by their past relatives who murdered and plundered the English country side. People have short memories and because of this are confused in their Logic.

Why today, are the Royal Family treated like the cream of society whilst the warlords of today are treated like savage criminals? There is no consistency in this type of thinking. When you shake the Queen's hand and fawn all over her you are justifying her warlord lineage.

So saying, I do not dislike Queen, I just shake my head at the
the public adoration of her which seems illogical. Who says
nobody gains anything from war? The royal lineage have literally
lived like Kings and Queens ever since.

Some years ago I read (quite possibly in the Parkes, NSW, Champion Post newspaper) a characterisation of Canberra by a regional-dwelling Australian as 'the place where they build bridges over artificial lakes'. The article author had called this encapsulation of the ethos of the place to mind with this reference to the National Capital Authority in his sixth paragraph:

"In response to the [article author's] petition, the
National Capital Authority was quick to point out that,
‘only the stretch of Parkes Place skirting Lake Burley
Griffin would be renamed Queen Elizabeth Terrace’. The
open space where the Aboriginal Tent Embassy sits will
still be called Parkes Place. This misses the point
entirely."

Reading through to the end of the article, and having mentally noted along the way that Queen Elizabeth has reigned as our sovereign for more than half of the 111 years the Federation has existed, I came to the author's terminal highlighted text link. Would just clicking it mean I would have signed the petition, which I wasn't yet sure, not being a Canberra native, that I wanted to do?

I clicked the link. About two thirds of the way down the author's petition page is a link to a Canberra Times news item. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/parkes-place-renaming-sparks-a-royal-row-20121024-2853v.html That link contains a map showing in blue (in the Canberra suburb of Parkes, by the way) that portion of the present Parkes Place that will be renamed Queen Elizabeth Terrace. The text immediately below the map explains the change. Henry Parkes gets three memorials out of this: the new Parkes Place East (a street), the new Parkes Place West ( a street), and Parkes Place (a place with no street, but with grass and the Aboriginal tent embassy, between the other two memorials, that perhaps should be called 'Parkes Place Centre'), a nett gain of two.

From the NCA information below the map it appears as if Ben Jones has misplaced the latter of his quotation marks in failing to include the words 'The open space where the Aboriginal Tent Embassy sits will still be called Parkes Place'.

TBC

Continued.

Speaking of missed points, a point that could well be missed is that the map showing that part of the present Parkes Place subject to the renaming also shows an adjacent area named on it as 'Reconciliation Place'. That same map shows no open space area named 'Parkes Place', even though the explanatory text accompanying the map says:

"The road in the Parliamentary Triangle has three sides
with the internal open space also called Parkes Place,
the location of the Aboriginal tent embassy."

Why does the name for that part of the open space WITHIN THE PARLIAMENTARY TRIANGLE not appear on the map? Is it because it is not officially proclaimed as 'Parkes Place'? Given that this open space supposedly named 'Parkes Place' is also described as the location of the Aboriginal tent embassy, and that open space is shown as being named 'Reconciliation Place' outside the Parliamentary Triangle, is the renaming of a section of roadway beside the lake a smokescreen for other renaming(s) designed to make a future moving of the Aboriginal tent embassy appear more 'consistent'? Or is the NCA trying to underhandedly rob what has long perhaps been thought to be an existing open space memorial to Henry Parkes, while placing the blame for it as a consequence of 'unforeseen confusion' accompanying a Diamond Jubilee celebratory renaming of the lakeside section of road in honour of the Queen?

Ever being one to look for the bigger picture, and having noted that the Canberra Times map was a Google 'Whereis' product, I called up the suburb of Parkes, ACT, and zoomed out. Over on the other side of the lake from the soon-to-be-named Queen Elizabeth Terrace I saw the ever-so-much-more-grand Parkes Way! http://www.whereis.com/act/canberra/parkes-wy#session=MTM= . Given that a description of 'Parkes Place beside Lake Burley Griffin' could easily invite confusion in a visitor's mind with 'Parkes Way beside Lake Burley Griffin' on the other side, perhaps the NCA is to be commended for obviating a potential source of confusion by renaming the smaller and less grand one Queen Elizabeth Terrace.

Whatever the response to the author's petition, Ben Jones may have done the cause of memorialisation of Sir Henry Parkes a service. His article may have highlighted a bit of a conundrum with respect to that part of the renaming that will result in the creation of the street name 'Parkes Place East'.

If one looks at a zoomed-in view of the Google Whereis map, as here: http://twitpic.com/bapofq , one will see in relation to the about-to-become-Parkes Place East a resemblance to a two-pronged fork, with each of the prongs bearing the current name of 'Parkes Place' on the map. 'Parkes Place East West Fork' and 'Parkes Place East East Fork' (or '...Prong', in either case) start to get a little unwieldy as possible distinguishing names, don't they? A possible 'Parkes Place Off-Central', for the prong skirting the High Court of Australia as it does, hardly seems to cut the mustard either. Problem.

How about that western prong gets named 'Henry Parkes Court'? It would substantially make up in length for the section of roadway that is to become 'Queen Elizabeth Terrace', whilst creating a necessary distinction from the new 'Parkes Place East'. It would give old Henry a nett gain of three memorialisations as a side effect of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, which seems a fair deal in which there are no losers. It would seem mean-minded not to give the Queen a terrace in the Parliamentary Triangle when she has been on the throne longer than the rest of her antecedents put together over the Federation.

That leaves a little crescent of roadway off the suggested 'Henry Parkes Court' appearing to be without a name. Since it is near to Reconciliation Place, why not name it in memory of a Wiradjuri* poet, Kevin Gilbert, who, as I understand it, had somewhat to do with the establishment of the Aboriginal tent embassy? http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=3130#73881

*Wiradjuri: an aboriginal tribal name based upon a linguistic distinction meaning, as I understand it, "having the word 'djuri' for 'no'". Juxtaposes with the High Court having no jury.